Student Veterans: Recruiting and Educating the Ideal Public Health Applicant

In the time of increasing student debt burden and decreasing available scholarship funding, student veterans are the ideal applicant. They arrive on campus with tuition waivers, housing stipends, excellent time management skills and years of life experience. However, student veterans need assistance with choosing a major that builds on their global military experience. Public health is the perfect match. Many student veterans gravitate to criminology as a default major. At University of South Florida College of Public Health, networking with the Office of Student Veterans has been a valuable experience for undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty. Like many people, student veterans do not understand the breadth and depth of public health. By working with the Office of Veteran Affairs administrative staff, the College of Public Health has gained a new and valuable partner. We have become a welcomed addition to the services offered in their office: a) monthly information sessions; b) convenient advising appointments in their office; c) graduate student veterans mentoring undergraduate student veterans; d) faculty with military experience mentoring graduate student veterans; e) network fairs linking military experience with aspects of public health careers, e.g. disaster management, infectious and communicable disease, global health, etc. and f) social support and activities with non-veteran students and their families to normalize the campus experience. The networking process began with conducting focus groups with student veterans. The results revealed feelings of isolation, lack of direction for a career path, and a general sense that their courses did not provide a practical application. After student veterans complete a few courses in public health, the focus group responses change to seeing the practical application of course materials to workforce development and feeling connected to public health professionals and their future career goals.